Ramsey Sustainability Changes Update #1

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While working on my personal sustainability metrics, I have read several items that have prompted me to act immediately. One of the reading themes is that our personal consumer choices are an important driver for sustainability. Individually, all the choices are small, bur cumulatively they add up to make significant impacts.

So a couple of immediate changes. I have moved over to a product called “Sodastream” several months ago. Much like the transportation reduction with geosynthetics vs. natural materials, this system drastically reduced transportation volumes for carbonated beverages. You move gas cylinders and concentrated solutions, not cans and bottles of bulky and cumbersome (environmentally inefficient) soda. I am on my 5th gas cylinder and will no longer purchase Diet Coke and carbonated water in bottles.

Organic waste to landfills is another area where I can have immediate impact – I have begun, and will continue composting of organic waste and will begin to lobby for a community composting facility and iniative.

Again on the consumer side, I have made 5 or 6 brand changes to move to more sustainable packaging consumption – concentrated products and those with reusable packaging.

We all have to do our parts and this is a very little bit, but every little bit helps – at least I hope so.

Metrics for sustainability objectives – Program goals

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There are several levels to the human race’s changes to achieve a sustainable environment and behavior. It starts, as many things do, with a goal. That goal is presented, within this site, on my page titled “Environmental & Sustainability Policy”. But while have as goal is necessary – as Peter Drucker stated ” “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”, so step two is metrics – How and what do I plan to do in support of my personal sustainability goals and how am I doing in meeting the goals? This section of my website will contain that.

As this is the first posting, the metrics will follow…things that are on the table for personal consideration right now, in no particular order: degree of recycling contributions, waste to landfill minimization, if/when travel resumes – how to balance flying, automobile ownership and usage, personal water conservation., composting, how to play more responsible golf, and more to come…

From a business perspective, serving as an industry resource for sustainability efforts, participation and support of the IGS Sustainability Committee, preparing my/our industry to address the “plastics problem” and more…

So my pledge is to complete more specific goals and metrics and list them here by the end of 2021. I hope you and your company do the same.

Ramsey Fall 2021 speaking schedule

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Your’s truly has committed to several virtual speaking engagements in the coming months. I will again present an updated version of the “Ethics in Geosynthetics” talk, once for the IGS https://www.igs-uk.org/ UK chapter (December 1) and in December for the IGS https://www.igs-na.org/ North America Chapter. I will be a lecturer at the Huesker GeoForum event, November 10 and 11th that is being organized by the Brazil and North American organizations – the topic there is a sustainability overview, Geosynthetic materials make a great contribution to sustainability, but the operation of our manufacturing industry and engagement with future recycling of both raw materials and finished goods could use some improvement.

Also, I will be hosting a mini-lecture and panel discussion at an event sponsored by the ISG Technical https://www.geosyntheticssociety.org/committees/technical-barrier-systems/ Committee on Barrier Systems. The topic is the durability of geomembranes, but the perspective is uncommon. Our industry spends lots of time, money and attention on OIT (Oxidative Induction Time) results, an important factor, however there are several other equally critical factors that we tend to ignore almost completely in industry discussion.

Boyd Ramsey presents Sustainability webinar for IGS North America chapter

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On July 20, 2021 I presented a webinar titled: Geosynthetics and Sustainability – How is our industry doing?

This webinar/presentation gives an overview of the activities of our industry and some organizations, with interviews and discussions with industry participants including: Jean-Louis Vangeluwe – Solmax, Dennis Grech – Geofabrics, Sam Allen – TRI Environmental, Richard Bathurst – Royal Military College of Canada, Steve Thaxton – Owens Corning and John Krause – Executive Director IGS. Our industries products make great contributions to the cause of sustainable development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals) , but we can improve on our manufacturing operations and our communication of the engineering benefits of geosynthetics. Some best practices were highlighted and improvement needs discussed. As a result of this event and the increasing importance of sustainability contributions, I have enacted am Environmental and Sustainability policy – it can be found here https://boydramseyconsulting.com/environmental-and-sustainability-policy-statement/.

Boyd Ramsey presents at joint ACIGS / IGS Technical committee on Barrier Systems webinar

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In a joint webinar, co-sponsored by the IGS Australian chapter (ACIGS) and the IGS Technical Committee on Barrier Systems, I presented and discussed the topic of Geo-barriers, specifically durability and estimations of durability performance using Oxidative Induction Time (OIT), both standard and high-pressure. Other panelists were Fred Gassner, Kerry Rowe, Warren Hornsey and Eric Blond.


OIT and retention of OIT are heavily used in our industry to estimate durability and lifespan and are part of the Victoria, Australia BPEM regulatory standards. However, the interpretation of the OIT and aged OIT retention test results is both formulation and testing protocol specific and should be undertaken with care and experience.


Boyd Ramsey

Ramsey presents “Ethics in Geosynthetics” as an IGS Australasia chapter webinar

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At the request and with the support of the IGS Australian chapter (ACIGS) on January 28th, 2020 I presented a webinar, “Ethics in Geosynthetics” – similar content to the events and presentations I have made in South Africa and the USA, but updated for our exciting times! A link to the ACIGS page is here: https://www.acigs.org/portfolio-items/boyd-ramsey-ethics-in-geosynthetics-january-2021/. The presentation summarized and presented highlights of the ethics policies of several organizations and companies within the geosynthetics industry as well as engaging with the audience on the complexity and “observer bias” of ethical dilemmas.

Boyd Ramsey – Secretary / Treasurer IGS Foundation

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In addition to my client work and other industry responsibilities, I also serve as the Secretary / Treasurer of the International Geosynthetics Society Foundation.  The IGS Foundation was created in late 2019 and is a non-profit, charitable organization.  The mission of the Foundation is to support and expand the activities and reach of the IGS, particularly in the areas of education and market growth.  I will serve on the Board of Trustees of the Foundation until December, 2021, having been selected by the IGS Council.

The Foundation welcomes the participation and support of all, within, or outside the general geosynthetics industry.  Geosynthetics make a strong contribution to a better planet and the Foundation is an important part of expanding that market and our industries’ sustainable message.   A brief video with several of our Founding Donors, myself and the Board’s Chairman – Jacques Cote explains the Foundation and highlights our kickoff at GeoAmericas 2020.  The video is linked here, and can also be found on the IGS Foundation website at http://www.TheIGSFoundation.com

Please contact me if you have any questions. I hope that you will “Join us”.

Boyd Ramsey speaks at Australian digital environmental conference

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In the first of what I expect to be many digital events, I presented at the Australian Land and Groundwater Association 2020 EcoForum in September 2020. The ALGA website is here https://landandgroundwater.com/ and I offer my compliments as they did a good job with the changes to a digital event. My presentation focused on the use of geomembrane materials for capping of contaminated sites, particularly sites with PFAS contamination. The presentations were pre-recorded with a session group Q and A presented at scheduled times. As I am certain that more and more events will move to digital content, I think this was a great start, both for myself, ALGA and the participants.

Boyd Ramsey Consulting LLC completes client satisfaction survey / continuous improvement program

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In June, 2020 a customer/client satisfaction survey was conducted among the 60 plus clients and prospective clients of Boyd Ramsey Consulting LLC. Participation was good at over 30% and the response was overwhelmingly positive. The services provided were characterized as “reliable”, “high quality” and always meeting time commitments. I particularly value the comments and good ratings from repeat customers, who see the value of long-standing relationships. I will keep continuous improvement as an important part of my programs. I thank the participants and my clients for their feedback and support.

Ramsey visit to USA/Australia.

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In March, I made a visit to the USA for client visits and to attend two events – the Mirafi University event by TenCate and the Charleston SC geosynthetics conference. The Mirafi event was very interesting and helped to validate all of the transportation lobbying that I have done. The highlight of the Charleston events were a lecture on “Ethics in Geosynthetics” sponsored by the IGS North America chapter and a GMA lecture illustrating the progress of GMA since it’s inception. The Australia trip started with a series of Workshops in Melbourne and Brisbane on geomembrane barriers. The event was sponsored by the Austrialasian IGS chapter (webpage here: https://www.acigs.org/) and detailed the current state of practice and issues relating to use of geomembranes in an extremely difficult environment(s). The workshops were completed successfully, but unfortunately, the covid-19 crisis required an early departure from Australia. However, I will remain engaged with the Australian geosynthetics market – I suppose we will all be video conferencing for a while.